What a year I've had.
In 2009 I've:
- Traveled on 10 airplanes, 6 14-hour trains, by bus, car, scooter, and foot
- Lived and mused and loved in Inner Mongolia China, Phuket Thailand, Tibet, and New Mexico.
- Read about 25 novels
- Volunteered at an orphanage in Beijing
- Worked as a College English teacher, a pre-school teacher, a waitress, and a research subject for the hospital.
- Broke up with my serious funny boyfriend.
- Adopted Nina the Pug
- Smoked a few cigarettes, drank some wine, danced a bit, laughed a lot
- Got accepted into the Career Development program, a competitive program that offers an MA in Elementary Education with a licensure in 17 months. I start Monday!
- Loved a lot, cried a lot, learned a lot.
Today I participated in a Vipassana Meditation retreat. It was wonderful. I feel centered, directed and confident about pursuing my spiritual path. We sat, walked, listened, were quiet. At the end of the retreat we wrote down all the things we wanted to "let go" of in the new year. We also made a list of all the things we wanted to "cultivate." When we were done, we chanted Om Mani Padme Hum and burned all the "let go" papers in a bowl. Then we walked out to the West Mesa and buried the ashes in the ground, and right next to it we buried what we wanted to "cultivate" in ourselves for the new year. It was very special to be in the presence of a Buddhist nun on New Year's Eve on the gorgeous West Mesa burying ashes in the group. My friends Petra and Francisco joined me for the retreat, and they enjoyed it as well. I am continuing on tomorrow, and possibly Saturday if I can complete all the necessary errands before I start Grad school on Monday.
I will share my list with you:
Let Go
Jumping into Romantic Relationships
Impatience/trying to do everything so fast
Fear of Being Alone
Judging/being hard on my close family members
Cultivate
New Friendships
My spiritual practice that includes meditation, nutritious food, yoga, healthy relationships that will help me blossom into a version of my higher self
Love myself more
All A's in Grad school
Here's hoping for 2010!
2 comments:
Hi Mandy,
I found your blog American Girl Inner Mongolia and have been reading since last night. May i get your email address so I could write to you? I have a million questions about teaching in China, and China in general. It's nice to talk to someone that has actually done it:-)
Happy New Year!
Aisyah
Oh here's my email address: dr.aisyah@gmail.com
Post a Comment